Consumption Logement Cadre de Vie, a consumer defense association, warns of excessive sugar content in certain foods intended for young children. And regretted, this Thursday, “regulations which do not go far enough”.
Foods for very young children often “too sweet” and which “contain flavorings and additives”: the consumer defense association CLCV studied 207 products intended for children under 3 years old and regretted on Thursday “regulations which are not not far enough.”
Consumption Logement Cadre de Vie (CLCV) carried out a survey of more than 200 products “in June and July 2023 in 9 major retail brands”, and noted in the report that “30% of the references contain sweetening ingredients”, sugar, honey or chocolate for example.
“85% of dairy products studied contain sweetening ingredients”
“This is an observation that is all the more alarming given that the proliferation of snack and dessert type products in infant food aisles normalizes the concept of snacking and eating sweet desserts at the end of a meal,” regrets CLCV. In detail, “85% of the dairy products studied contain sweetening ingredients”, whether sugar, cane sugar, dextrose or even caramel.
In addition, “77% of sweet or savory snacks contain various sweetening ingredients” she says again, observing that “six references encountered do not contain sweetening ingredients: so it is possible!” For CLCV, “these findings show that European regulations are not strict enough for manufacturers and should be updated”. It “must set maximum levels of sugars, fats and salt, based on the recommendations of the World Health Organization”, believes the association, which also asks “industrialists to improve the quality of the ‘offer of infant food products’.